Lawyers who blog; leverage the power of social networks including Avvo, Facebook, LawLink, Legal OnRamp, LinkedIn, Martindale-Hubbell Connected and Plaxo; and are active on Twitter and other microblogs report that they are gaining and retaining new clients as a result of their online presence, according to the 2012 Legal Technology Survey Report, recently published by the ABA Legal Technology Research Center. For attorneys considering whether social media pays, the verdict is in:

11 percent of respondents got clients through microblogging in 2012.

16.5 percent of respondents got clients through social networks in 2012.

39 percent of respondents got clients through blogging in 2012.

The latest statistics support what online marketing companies have known for a while. A 2010 study by Hubspot found that companies that blog get 97% more inbound links, 55% more website visitors and 88% more inbound leads than those who do not blog.

50 percent of respondents who blog reported spending less than one hour a week maintaining their legal blogs, while 44.3 percent said they spent 1-5 hours and 5.7 percent spent 6-10 hours a week. Many law firms are turning to online public relations companies to manage and monitor their firms’ online reputation and improve social media engagement to help grow their practice.

Reputation Rhino and other leading online marketing companies work with attorneys and law firms on innovative inbound marketing strategies that demonstrate thought leadership and online credibility on current issues like new legislative and regulatory developments, important cases and settlements and other topics of interest to potential or existing clients or referral sources.

Twitter is a very powerful social network for online advertising and marketing for your business — with an estimated online audience representing 15% of all adult internet users and 26% of the coveted 18-29 year old demographic, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. We recently shared some valuable Twitter tips for business on this blog. This week, I want to talk about two popular Twitter advertising solutions to help you better target customers and increase your business Twitter following.

Promoted Accounts and Promoted Tweets:

The first is Promoted Accounts where the Twitter teams analyze your current following and then it searches for people with similar interests. When a match is found, Twitter recommends you in the “follow section” to each of these users. Ultimately this service helps you generate additional followers with users who share a common demographic and/or interest. [Read more…]

Like Facebook, Twitter has seen meteoric rise in the past five years and with more than 140 million active users, Twitter is considered one of the top social networks in the world. While you may use Twitter for fun, using it for business can actually be a very strategic part of your online marketing efforts.

There are differences between a personal Twitter and a business Twitter account – but the basics still remain the same. You can still share out compelling content in 140-character tweets. But there are some differences too. For instance, Twitter offers businesses with several tools to enhance a Twitter business profile page so it is branded with the ability to load in logos, unique background, images and videos. In addition, Twitter provides some nifty services to get your business Twitter profile viewed by the right tweeters. Hundreds of millions of users may sound impressive – but if you own a local business, you may just want to target tweeters in your area.

Here are some tips for leveraging your business Twitter account to gain more followers and enhance your business branding online: [Read more…]

After the self-inflicted public relations disaster and tabloid frenzy that eviscerated Anthony Weiner’s once promising political career earlier this summer, it's appropriate to reflect on a few online reputation management lessons from this PR nightmare and some steps that can be taken to avoid another media meltdown.